This is the first of a regular series of campaign alerts on the AFL-CIO's "No Blank Check for China" Campaign.

• The AFL-CIO has accelerated its grassroots campaign to defeat permanent Normal Trade Relations for China, which would scrap the annual reviews of China's record on human rights and trade. More than 30 local coordinators have been assigned to spearhead district activities among union members and coalition partners in the days leading up to the vote, which is expected to come during the week of May 22. Several unions are mobilizing members to travel to Washington, D.C., during the week of the vote to lobby their members of Congress.
  
  
• During the coming weeks, workers will hand out leaflets to their co-workers and neighbors urging them to call their members of Congress to tell them to vote, "No Blank Check for China." Leafleting will take place across the country, from the Delphi, Chrysler and Dunlop Tire plants in Huntsville and Tanner, Ala., to street festivals and parades in Houston.

NCSL Stuns Proponents—Rejects Permanent NTR Resolution Twice

• The Agriculture and Trade committee of the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) stunned proponents of permanent Normal Trade Relations—who had sent U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky to lobby personally—by rejecting a resolution in support of a blank check for China—twice. After the first vote defeating the resolution, proponents rounded up members of the committee who had not voted. Despite their efforts, the resolution was defeated again, and the resolution did not move to the full body.

New Commitments and Endorsements

• Recently, 12 members of Congress announced their opposition to giving a blank check to China: House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.); Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee; Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas); Rep. Ronnie Shows (D-Miss.); Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wis.); Rep. Bill Luther (D-Minn.); Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.); Rep. Jerry Kleczka (D-Wis.); Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.); Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.); Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.); and Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.).
  
  
• Last week, the congressionally appointed, cross-denominational U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom concluded that "Congress should grant China permanent free trade status only after China makes substantial improvement in respect for religious freedom....Given the sharp deterioration in freedom of religion in China during the last year, the Commission believes that an unconditional grant of PNTR at this moment may be taken as a signal of American indifference to religious freedom."

• In impassioned letters, three former political prisoners told Rep. Levin his proposal to monitor human rights in China is an inadequate substitute for the current annual review of China's trade status. Wang Xizhe asked Levin how "anyone can expect China to comply with [human rights] conditions when you have already given away the store." Harry Wu warned Levin that he "is doing a terrible disservice to the struggle for human rights in China" by promoting a "toothless committee" that would do nothing to ease Beijing's repression but could help convince Congress to sacrifice the crucial leverage of annual review. In his letter to Levin, Wei Jingsheng stated, "although businessmen may view human rights as an inconvenience to profit-making, you, having been elected to a position of responsibility, should not be covering for their shortsightedness."
  
  
• On Friday, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney sent a letter to members of Congress to underscore opposition to permanent NTR, saying, "toothless mechanisms" will not bring change to the world's most authoritarian country. "The China trade monitoring processes that are being proposed—whether by Levin or by President Clinton—to accompany the granting of permanent Normal Trade Relations to China in no way compensate for the loss to the U.S. of economic leverage on China's behavior with regard to trade, human rights, labor rights or environmental protections," said Sweeney. The letter, along with a fact sheet on the Levin proposal and another refuting the administration's contention that permanent NTR for China only benefits the U.S. and costs us nothing, also was distributed by union members to the district offices of 30 members of Congress around the country.
  
  
• During the Maine Democratic Convention this past weekend, union leaders presented letters from 250 union members to Rep. Baldacci urging him to vote against permanent NTR for China.